A 52 member strong delegation led by External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L. Pieris and Plantations Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe will leave for Geneva next week for the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) sessions that commences on 27 February.
The delegation is likely to include several senior ministers including John Seneviratne and Dilan Perera who both led ministerial delegations to Latin American UNHRC member states to canvass their support for Sri Lanka at the February-March session.
It is believed a resolution will be moved against Sri Lanka at the UNHRC during this session. The resolution is likely to be authored by the European Union or a proxy nation and backed by the US. According to informed sources, the resolution to be moved at UNHRC will likely call for the implementation of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission report.
The government sent ministerial delegations to several countries in Latin America and Africa ahead of the UNHRC session to canvass those capitals for support of Sri Lanka against any resolution to be moved against the country in Geneva. However with the exception of Minister Pieris, none of the ministers who travelled were able to meet officials higher than of the vice minister level for discussions on the HR issues. The message from Latin America was clearly directed by the US, Ceylon Today learns and was to ask the Sri Lankan government to work with the UN on the accountability issues.
The government delegation to Geneva is likely to use the LLRC extensively to make a case for a home grown solution to Sri Lanka's post conflict issues. (Ceylon Today Online)
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